Hansard Int’l’s new portfolio bond reflects ‘adviser feedback’

Hansard International, the international arm of Isle of Man-based, LSE-listed investment product provider Hansard Global, has unveiled a new universal personal portfolio bond that it says incorporates a number of features that advisers told its product developers they wanted.

Like other Hansard International universal personal portfolio (UPP) bonds, the single-premium, Z1 Universal Personal Portfolio bond – or the Z1, or UPP Z1, as some are calling it – enables advisers to choose whether or not to take commission on the sale of the product, to the benefit of their client, an adviser-friendly option. What makes the UPP Z1 special is that the associated charges are taken from outset of the product’s sale, rather than charged over a longer period, company officials say.

After the sale is completed, the only ongoing charge is a quarterly service charge of £96.

Hansard International’s global sales and marketing director, Graham Morrall, pictured, says the UPP Z1 “provides advisers with an alternative option for their clients that require access to a universe of thousands of assets, with the peace of mind of settling associated charges on day one”.

The UPP Z1 also provides policyholders with penalty-free access to their investment at any time, and is available in life or capital redemption options, Hansard said, with the only charges on surrender being the amount of the service charge that had accrued for the quarter in which the surrender is made.

The minimum investment is £100,000, with additional minimum contributions of £5,000 possible “at any time”, and applicable to the existing contract. Contract holders are able to make these additional contributions in most major currencies, using the current exchange rate to establish the correct minimum contribution amount, according to Hansard.

Hansard was founded in the UK as Liberty Life in 1970 by Leonard Polonsky, who sold most of the business to Lincoln National but held onto the Hansard part of it, with the intention of growing it. It was floated on the LSE in December 2006. A Dublin-based operation known as Hansard Europe closed to new business in June 2013. Its main markets now are the Middle East, Far East and Latin America.